Ike staring down Texas' barrel

The National Hurricane center says Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds, now officially has the Texas Coast line in its 3-day cone of uncertainty, though Ike is continuing to drag along at 8 mph in a northwest direction. I know this has a lot of people in Texas scrambling, not the least of which is Galveston and Houston which take a lot of time to evacuate.

(photo on the left is a FEMA photo of evacuation buses at a staging area in Beeville, ready to roll)

The NOAA Satellite and Information Service has out a new high resolution picture showing Ike setting up its spidery swirl across the entire Gulf of Mexico.

News notes:

Evacuation buses moving south of Houston

President declares emergency in Texas

School closings in Houston area

City of Corpus Christi Hurricane Site

Corpus Christi closures due to Ike

--steve buser

Hurricane Ike demands attention

Pictures starting to flow in from the destruction in the Caribean -- these Haiti pictures are by
Radio Nederland Wereldomroep on Flickr.com

Some the headlines developing:

Up-to-date changes and cancellations in Corpus Christi (Caller Times)

Navy shifts personnel in advance of Ike. Corpus Christi (Caller Times)

The pre-storm hotel rush is on Corpus Christi (Caller Times)

Evacuation of coastal residents ordered near Houston -- Houston Chronicle


The Material Management Service which overseas U.S. interest in oil and gas drilling said yesterday "personnel have been evacuated from a total of 167 production platforms, equivalent to 23.3 % of the 717 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Production platforms are the structures located offshore from which oil and natural gas are produced. These structures remain in the same location throughout a project’s duration unlike drilling rigs which typically move from location to location. "

The service added " Personnel from 44 rigs have also been evacuated; this is equivalent to 36.4 % of the 121 rigs currently operating in the Gulf. Rigs caninclude several types of self-contained offshore drilling facilitiesincluding jackups, submersibles and semisubmersibles.

From the operators’ reports, it is estimated that approximately 77.5% of the oil production in the Gulf has been shut-in. Estimated current oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is 1.3 millionbarrels of oil per day. It is also estimated that approximately 64.8% of the natural gas production in the Gulf has been shut-in. ..."

-steve buser

Texas media starting to ramp up Hurricane Ike news

This buoy off Sand Key, FL is reporting winds of 54kts out of the east south east, showing the Florida keys will be getting some strong effects for Hurricane Ike as it passes by the dangling state. The best real time site to watch Hurricane Ike, right now, is the radar at Casablanca, Cuba.

Meanwhile, the weather news is picking up in the Houston area after yesterdays the oil companies sprang to action:

Oil, gas companies do it all over again

here's the Houston Chronicle's Hurricane Central

Corpus Christi's Caller Times is paying close attention to Hurricane Ike

The Brownsville Herald is also keeping track of where the storm will be targeting in the lower Texas coast

Even the Beaumont Enterprise on the the upper Texas coast reports events beginning to be cancelled in anticipation of the weather events to come.

--steve buser